UNRWA has announced the closure of its East Jerusalem headquarters, following recent Israeli legislation severing ties with the organization. Palestinian employees have been notified that their positions at the Sheikh Jarrah (Shimon HaTzadik) facility will be terminated.
According to reports published by Saudi news network AlHadath, employees have been given a 12-month grace period to find new employment, after which their contracts with the United Nations organization will be terminated.
UNRWA's presidential office in Sheikh Jarrah houses the organization's legal department, which oversees the agency's legal matters across all areas of operation. The facility also includes the agency's spokesperson's office and its central communications department.
The Saudi network also reported that the agency's foreign employees will not be dismissed but instead will be reassigned to the agency's offices in Amman, Jordan.
Following the revelation of UNRWA staff and institutions' involvement in acts of terror, particularly in the Oct. 7 massacre, the Knesset passed two significant laws last month to curtail the organization's activities in Jerusalem and Gaza. The first law, initiated by Knesset members Boaz Bismuth and Sharren Haskel, which passed its second and third readings, now prohibits UNRWA's operations in the Shuafat refugee camp in Jerusalem and all of the organization's activities in East Jerusalem.
The second law, initiated by Knesset members Yulia Malinovsky, Dan Illouz, Ron Katz, and others, prohibits contact between Israeli government officials and UNRWA personnel. The implications: denying organization members the ability to work in Gaza, travel to it, or operate there in general.
